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'Equitable Sharing'

"In 1984, Congress passed the Comprehensive Forfeiture Act, which vastly expanded the federal government’s forfeiture powers.169 The Act also created 'equitable sharing,' a process by which federal agencies 'adopt' forfeiture cases from state law enforcement agencies.170 Equitable sharing is used when federal forfeiture is more favorable to state and local police, which usually occurs when state law mandates that law enforcement keep a smaller amount than that available under equitable sharing.171 Perhaps of more concern is when it is used to skirt state laws that either prevent forfeiture in a particular case, or direct that all or a portion of the proceeds be deposited into non-law enforcement funds.172 The federal agency keeps 20% of the recovered amount, while the remainder is returned to the state or local entity that brought the action.173"